After just 20 minutes in a helicopter above the Manhattan skyline, autistic artist Stephen Wiltshire was ready to re-create a city that took hundreds of years to build.
Wiltshire is drawing a 20-foot panoramic view of New York – all from memory. The 35-year-old artist’s autistic disorder affects his ability to interact with other people. It has also given him a photographic memory – and a gift for putting it on paper.
“I just looked without drawing,” said Wiltshire as he explained how he is able to draw the skyline without referring back to a photograph of the city.
“Everything is like a TV show,” he said. “I have never drawn from a sketchbook.”
Wiltshire, a Londoner, is creating the image at the Pratt Institute of Art in Brooklyn, where the public can watch him work through Friday afternoon.
Read more (Thanks John)
I think I saw him once on a show about savants. They are amazing people.
Here he is in action (2007) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckqDX2XpdyY
That is extraordinary! amazing.
ah yeah – saw something about that on you tube ages ago.
WOW!
That’s simply all I can say – WOW!
Darren.
Is this the guy, who as a child, did the same with London? If so he was fabulous then, so no doubt this will be superb!
Is this the guy, who as a child, did London? If it is, it will be fabulous!
Incredible gift…!
Wow that is pretty amazing!
amazing, simply amazing!!
Oh sooo jealous….grr
Btw the original article doesn’t give a link to Stephens website so, here it is
http://www.stephenwiltshire.co.uk/
worth a visit!
That’s amazing!
Is this the chap who was on Going Live years ago as a youngster, who was able to recall how many windows there were in the House of Lords or somesuch?
Wish I could go over there to watch him at work. Amazing how our brains work
Kinda wish i was a little autistic.
Wait a minute. Didn’t he take that 20 minute helicopter journey over New York a few years ago? I saw it in a documentary. And I’m almost 100% sure he drew it afterwards, on camera. Well, maybe it was London or Paris. Either way, fascinating stuff. I’d love to see him drawing in person.
some say its a disorder, some say its evolution , some say its a gift, some say its a curse , i do think there is a lot of ignorance towards this metal attribute , or may its because it seems people hate anyone that makes them feel inefficient , it seems intelligence is always widely resented , the best think an exceptionally intelligent person can do is hide it so you can have friends and a normal life and by the time they realize they’ve already accepted you and you still cannot use it or they will resent you , even trying to gain investment for a business, imagine it “hi i have designs which far surpass yours would you invest in me plse”
you can train your brain to have a photographic memory i believe if you have the will to do it.
Stephen Wiltshire does have the photographic memory obviously and that is amazing , but his artist skills are equally amazing such detail in the sense of it looks as it should,
He is just amazing. I had to do an artist profile on him for my art coursework last year and his work is incredible.
I saw a video of him in action on YouTube he is utterly amazing, and I just finished a book about a young boy with autism it really opens your eyes to the disorder, I do recomend it it was called a curious incident of a dog in the night.
I met him once when I was 6 and he was about 12. A lovely young man. I work with adults with autism and I think that one meeting was a turning point for me. I am also an amateur artist. It must be remembered that autism is a spectrum condition. It ranges from complete inability to communicate all the way to people with powerful intellects who have social difficulties. They say that a large percentage of Cambridge maths graduates may have aspergers. They (who are THEY?) also say that the cathedrals and palaces built in the middle ages would have required an eidetic memory and an almost savant-like ability. Hooray for artistic autists!
Wow, what an amazing gift he has.
It’s really spooky looking at that picture he drew of Manhattan cos only a few days ago I had a dream where I was in an office window looking at the Manhattan skyline and in my dream it looked almost exactly like the drawing Stephen did there. Very strange…..
LC x
I love it. You’ll need incredible artistic ability and incredible memory to create an artwork like this one. It doesn’t seem quite finished though; I’d like to know what it looks like when it’s finished.
That’s really amazing.
@Rob – that’s really interesting. I worked with a boy with Asperger’s syndrome in my gap year. He also had an amazing memory and affinity for maths. On my last day, I complemented on his t-shirt. He told me not to be silly as I’d seen it before – he was wearing it on my first day!
That is indeed amazing. I have read about him before, he did the same thing with Tokyo. That is talent combined with extreme brain capasity! I expect Derren to do the same thing with London some time soon:-)
Greetings from Norway
- Atle
Jeezuz I was impressed when Derren drew that complicated building after 10 seconds looking at it…but this takes the biscuit of genius :p
Nice to see people’s thoughts on this – as an Aspie myself having read alot of accounts from others it appears most of the neurotypical ppl out there seem to find us a little odd.
Personally i think we all have unusual abilities – im just wondering if as an Aspie its possible to learn tricks like Derren does that revolve around being able to read and understand people to predict what they think – which as autistic ppl know, is insanely hard because we dont always see those little tweaks and social cues!
Pretty sure I’ve seen him work before. An amazing talent, and an incredible insight into what our brains are capable of.